A recommendation to the President’s Council requesting that all students who would have been able to graduate in the summer be able to participate in spring commencement was passed by the Council on Academic Affairs Thursday.

“The real concern here is that those who are able to graduate in the summer will have to wait until fall to participate in commencement,” said Tim Shonk, associate professor of English.

Summer commencement was eliminated in the spring of 1999 because of high costs and low participation, according to the proposal.

The issue was originally brought to the council’s attention by Bud Fischer, associate professor of biological sciences, because he was concerned about students who have yet to complete an internship requirement worth 15 credit hours not being able to participate in commencement with their class.

Fischer previously said those students typically take the internship as a last requirement and are generally placed out of state, making it unfeasible for them to return to participate in commencement.

Kristin Rutter, student vice president for student affairs, said “This proposal is great, but it doesn’t address what Bud wanted us to.”

Julie Dietz, associate professor of health studies, acknowledged that the proposal will not help those students who complete an internship or practicum in the fall or spring semesters, but that it would help a good percentage of those students that have to take internships and practicums.

Shonk said, “Policy becomes cumbersome when you change it for 10,000 students to accommodate 15 students.”

Dietz suggested that the spirit of the proposal go forward to the President’s Council and not the actual wording so that the council can work out the precise details.

CAA Chair Ron Wohlstein, sociology professor, said, “If the President’s Council doesn’t feel this is something that can be done then they won’t endorse it and it will not be implemented.”

The recommendation would change the present policy, internal governing policy no. 50, which allows only students with fewer than six semester hours remaining for completion of their graduation requirements to request a waiver to participate in commencement.

In other business, the CAA passed a revision of a sociology course.

“It is just a change in title and description,” said Wohlstein, who will be teaching the course.

The course, Sociological Social Psychology (SOC 3650), will have the same name as a psychology course, but Wohlstein said there should be no confusion because their numbers are different and one can not be substituted for the other.

The course focuses on how two or more persons fit their behaviors together in cooperation, in competition and in conflict, according to the proposal.

“It is about time we used the correct name for this course that describes what it is,” Wohlstein said.